Newbie with Red Cherry Shrimps, need help asap!

[Cluunox]

Looks like you are getting there. Would keep the wc going to keep nitrates below 40 and dose to 2~4 ppm ammonia till both ammonia and nitrite go to 0 in 24hrs. for a few days.

Was looking back over the thread for hardness tests and finally found them. If your kh is beween 2 and 4 that is a major contributor to your deminishing ph after water change. If I remember correctly kh needs to be close to or above 5 to have a fairly stable ph. With that low of a kh I would suggest doing ph test just before lights out and just before lights on even with no co2 being added I would suspect you could be having larger than is good ph changes in a 24 hr period. I have read that more than 1 point total ph change in 24 hrs. 7 to 6 back to 7 ph can be stressfull on both fish and some plants. I am not sure so you may want to ask or research first but I think it is baking soda that you can use to raise kh to acceptable and more stable lvls. I do not know and can't find the dosage to use though and since my water is 13~16 kh I have never had to remeber what it is. I know it is said that what ever your ph is at is ok and I beleive this to be true but a constantly changing ph is not good and needs to be stableized. The reason for lights on lights off is it = plants on plants off for highest and lowest c02 content for largest ph differences in 24 hrs.

Being new to all this stuff I am not sure I am correct so you will want to check my thoughts but if what I am thinking is correct the constant ph change with wc and then ph decline could be contributing to your shrimp loses.

good luck hope all turns out well.

 

[boobiebutt]

Day 38 (5/20):
Ammonia - 1 ppm
Nitrite - 1 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm

I'm adding 1-2 mL after every water test to keep it above approx 2 ppm.

Looks like you are getting there. Would keep the wc going to keep nitrates below 40 and dose to 2~4 ppm ammonia till both ammonia and nitrite go to 0 in 24hrs. for a few days.

Was looking back over the thread for hardness tests and finally found them. If your kh is beween 2 and 4 that is a major contributor to your deminishing ph after water change. If I remember correctly kh needs to be close to or above 5 to have a fairly stable ph. With that low of a kh I would suggest doing ph test just before lights out and just before lights on even with no co2 being added I would suspect you could be having larger than is good ph changes in a 24 hr period. I have read that more than 1 point total ph change in 24 hrs. 7 to 6 back to 7 ph can be stressfull on both fish and some plants. I am not sure so you may want to ask or research first but I think it is baking soda that you can use to raise kh to acceptable and more stable lvls. I do not know and can't find the dosage to use though and since my water is 13~16 kh I have never had to remeber what it is. I know it is said that what ever your ph is at is ok and I beleive this to be true but a constantly changing ph is not good and needs to be stableized. The reason for lights on lights off is it = plants on plants off for highest and lowest c02 content for largest ph differences in 24 hrs.

Being new to all this stuff I am not sure I am correct so you will want to check my thoughts but if what I am thinking is correct the constant ph change with wc and then ph decline could be contributing to your shrimp loses.

good luck hope all turns out well.

I will follow your advice Cluunnox, I will test my KH after I finish this entry and I will follow up with a post.

But the 10 gallon fishless cycling tank is the tank with the huge flux in pH. My 2.5 gallon that currently houses the shrimp and snails has a stable pH. I've tested the pH of both the 10 gallon and the 2.5 gallon and the 10 gallon is the only one that has crazy pH results. The 2.5 always 100% reads 7.5 pH before and after water changes.

The only difference I can think of between the 2 tanks is the 10 gallon has more water and more plants, and the 2.5 has shrimp and snails and the 10 doesn't have anything living in there.

I don't think the KH is an issue but I will test GH and KH to see if can be the cause.


EDIT:
GH - 5
KH - 2

Anyone have recommended doses of baking soda to place into the aquarium?

 

[boobiebutt]

I went away for the weekend and I didn't get a chance to drop ammonia again for at least 2-3 days. I hope it doesn't set me back again because this cycling process is starting to annoy the crap out of me.

Day 43 (5/25):
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - .5 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
pH - 6.5
KH - 2

On the 2.5 gallon, I've noticed missing snails. I found a broken snail shell today and I assume I've lost some of the baby snails and it was eaten by the other baby snails. I can count 3 of the original 5-6 baby snails I got hitchhiked. I find it really odd because the pH of the 2.5 gallon is stable at 7.5 WHENEVER I test it. It does not go down like my cycling 10 gallon.

Right now I put 1 gallon of water in a bucket with an air stone and I'm adding 1 teaspoon of backing soda at a time to see how much I would need to add to the 10 gallon to increase the KH to 5-6.

I'd rather not add baking soda if I don't have to considering I would probably have to test and add it to my 10 gallon on a regular basis to maintain the 5-6 KH. Can someone please help me figure out why the pH of a cycling tank is dropping and the pH of my non cycling tank staying steady at 7.5?

I really don't believe it is because of the 2 KH that is killing my shrimp and snails and dropping the pH because it DOESN'T happen with my 2.5 but only my fishless cycling 10 gallon.


EDIT: MINI-RANT
And another thing frustrating me to all hell is that every time I update this cycling thread with an update, I get more and more views but NO RESPONSES. Maybe I'm overreacting, maybe I'm not but I don't get ANY answers to ANY of the **** questions I'm asking. (Minus those who actually have responded to my questions, I thank you and I appreciate every input that you have helped me with so I can finish this dumbass cycle and fix the pH of my water.) For real, the thread has increased over 200 views since my last post and not a single reply?!?!!? wtf to the max.

I'm about to give up on this forum and go to another. Not like this matters because all this mini-rant will do is get views and no responses.

 

[boobiebutt]

Baking soda is not going to work for me.

Original KH of 1 gallon water = 2 KH

Added 1 teaspoon increased it to over 16+. I didn't even bother to continue to add drops to see how high the KH was. But I stopped at 16 drops.

Still need something to increase the pH without adding anything if possible.

 

[boobiebutt]

Been stuck in bed with the flu since Tues. I as able to add approx. 2 ppm of ammonia every 2 days.

Day 47 (5/29):
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm

- Followed by 40% water change.
- Added about 2-3 ppm of ammonia
- Retesting in about an hour to let ammonia distribute

By the way since my mini-rant views have increased by over 100 so I know you people are reading this. I'm about to do something interesting depending on my mood possibly this weekend or sometime next week. =)

 

[kyryah]

EDIT: MINI-RANT
And another thing frustrating me to all hell is that every time I update this cycling thread with an update, I get more and more views but NO RESPONSES. Maybe I'm overreacting, maybe I'm not but I don't get ANY answers to ANY of the **** questions I'm asking. (Minus those who actually have responded to my questions, I thank you and I appreciate every input that you have helped me with so I can finish this dumbass cycle and fix the pH of my water.) For real, the thread has increased over 200 views since my last post and not a single reply?!?!!? wtf to the max.

I'm about to give up on this forum and go to another. Not like this matters because all this mini-rant will do is get views and no responses.

I will give a response. I am one of the people that is viewing and not responding. Why? Because I have been curious as to how you are doing with the process, but I do not have the answers to your questions. Should I just pop of some non-sense then that makes it worse for you, and pretend to be an expert where I am not? I have never done a fishless cycle, and I am curious. I didn't think that viewing the thread would be so terrible.

I love this forum, I have gotten more help here than anywhere. In all honesty, maybe you need to start another thread with a more applicable title to your new questions, or simply PM a mod and ask them to change the title. There are a LOT of members here, and who is to say that many of them aren't reading halfway through the ten pages and getting discouraged and not finishing to actually see your questions? Maybe this thread has outlived it's purpose.

I feel a little insulted, actually.

Kristina

 

[boobiebutt]

I will give a response. I am one of the people that is viewing and not responding. Why? Because I have been curious as to how you are doing with the process, but I do not have the answers to your questions. Should I just pop of some non-sense then that makes it worse for you, and pretend to be an expert where I am not? I have never done a fishless cycle, and I am curious. I didn't think that viewing the thread would be so terrible.

I love this forum, I have gotten more help here than anywhere. In all honesty, maybe you need to start another thread with a more applicable title to your new questions, or simply PM a mod and ask them to change the title. There are a LOT of members here, and who is to say that many of them aren't reading halfway through the ten pages and getting discouraged and not finishing to actually see your questions? Maybe this thread has outlived it's purpose.

I feel a little insulted, actually.

Kristina

Hm... interesting. I appreciate your input and I agree with it somewhat. I think I got a better idea around it rather then posting a new thread. =)















Now with updated data and stats....
- I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the fishless cycling 10 gallon.
- KH increased from 2 to 4
- pH was at 8

Did a 40% water change and water parameters are:
Ammonia - 1 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm
KH - 3 (decreased from 4 after water change)
pH 8

 

[blue2fyre]

I wouldn't worry too much about your Ph dropping. From what I have read it is common during fishless cycles. I would get a buffer instead of having to add baking soda all the time. I would get a small bag of crushed coral and leave it in your filter. I have a layer of crushed seashells in my 5 gallon planted tank between the soil and gravel to help buffer my Ph and keep Ph swings in check. I would think with nitrate showing up means you are nearing the end of the cycle.

 

[boobiebutt]

I didn't know that was common for fishless cycles. I will see if the pH stabilizes after my cycling is finished. If not, I will attempt your crushed coral idea.

Should I be worried about the KH of my water? I do plan on one of my tanks to house snails/shrimps.

 

[blue2fyre]

In my opinion it's a good idea to keep Kh high if you want to keep a higher Ph. It helps reduce the chance of Ph swings and gives me peace of mind. The crushed coral will help with the KH as well as Ph. You could also use limestone rocks but that depends on if you want them as decore or not. I have limestone in my mbuna tank to keep the ph and kh high.